The silence in the chapel was soft, not empty.
Lucien's thumb traced gentle circles along Celeste's cheek. She leaned into his hand, anchoring herself to the only thing in the world that didn't feel like it was slipping away. His touch steadied her, but it also stirred something wild in her chest.
A longing that didn't feel entirely her own.
"I should be afraid," she whispered, her voice barely a thread. "Everything I thought I knew is unraveling."
Lucien's voice was low, velvet and steel. "You're allowed to be afraid. But not of me."
She opened her eyes, finding his gaze already locked on hers. "That's the thing. I'm not afraid of you. And maybe I should be."
His expression didn't change, but something shifted behind his eyes. A flicker of emotion too dangerous to name.
"I won't hurt you," he said.
"I know." Her voice broke. "But it's not just about pain, Lucien. It's about what you make me feel. Like I'm… someone else. Like I'm becoming something I can't control."
A pause stretched between them, heavy and quiet.
"You are becoming," he said finally. "But not something to fear. You are not unraveling, Celeste. You're awakening."
Her breath caught.
Lucien let his hand drop from her cheek but took her fingers into his, as if grounding her to the truth in his words. The soulbound mark on her wrist pulsed where his skin touched hers.
"We cannot change what you are," he said. "But we can decide what you become."
"You speak like you know me," she murmured.
"I don't," he admitted. "Not all of you. But I've seen enough to know you're not ordinary."
"I'm tired of being a mystery," Celeste said, her voice firming. "To you. To myself. I need answers."
Lucien's eyes darkened. "Then I'll give you what I know. But you must be ready. The truth has a cost."
"I've already paid," she said. "With my brother's life hanging in the balance, with this contract burned into my soul. What more could it take?"
Lucien's jaw clenched. "Hope. It might take your hope."
The words struck her like a blow, but she didn't look away. "Then I'll survive without it."
He looked at her for a long time. "The Shades were only the beginning. Now that the Keeper is gone, they'll send stronger things. Creatures bound to darkness. Some even I would struggle to stop."
"Then teach me to stop them," she said. "No more running."
A flicker of admiration crossed his face. "Flameblood and fire-hearted."
Before she could reply, the stained glass windows trembled, catching the dying light of dusk and twisting it into something unnatural. Pale shadows stretched along the chapel floor, moving against the laws of light.
Lucien's head snapped toward the doors. "They've found us."
Celeste stood without hesitation. "Then let them come."
The doors exploded inward with a thunderous crack, wood splintering as dark figures poured into the sanctuary. Not Shades this time—these things had form. Cloaked in black, faces hidden, but the air around them rippled with cold. Not temperature, but intent.
Lucien shoved her behind him. "Stay close."
"I'm not hiding," she snapped, her soulbound mark blazing gold beneath her skin.
He looked back at her, one eyebrow raised. "I never said you were."
Then he moved.
The first creature lunged, but Lucien was faster. His hand shot forward, palm open, and fire erupted from his skin, scorching the air. The creature screamed, withering into ash mid-leap.
Celeste didn't flinch.
The second creature came from the side, blade glinting with a sickly green aura. Celeste instinctively raised her hand and fire surged from her fingers, wild and untamed. The flame struck the creature square in the chest. It howled, stumbling back, its cloak igniting in unnatural fire.
Lucien's gaze snapped to her. "Your control"
"I don't have any," she admitted. "But it listens when I'm angry."
He let out a half-laugh, half-growl. "Then stay angry."
The remaining creatures circled them. Five now, their forms whispering with shadows.
Lucien stepped forward, a slow, menacing prowl. "This chapel is hallowed ground," he warned. "You don't belong here."
One of the cloaked figures hissed, its voice like breaking ice. "Neither do you, halfborn."
Lucien's eyes flared red.
Celeste felt it then. The shift in power. The veil that cloaked his presence slid aside just enough for her to glimpse what lived beneath the mask.
He wasn't just powerful.
He was terrifying.
Lucien moved with a fury she hadn't seen before. Fire and shadow, claws and wrath. He tore through the enemy with precision, but each strike left the room darker, like the light itself was afraid of what he was becoming.
Celeste stepped forward, her pulse surging.
One of the cloaked enemies turned to her, dagger raised, but she didn't retreat. She focused, heart racing. The flame inside her leapt to her hands, not wild this time but guided.
She spoke the word that had been echoing in her mind since the Keeper's death.
"Burn."
The creature was engulfed before it reached her.
Lucien's head snapped back in her direction. For a moment, they stood amid the wreckage breathless, scorched, trembling. Then silence.
All the creatures were gone.
The chapel was in ruins.
Lucien crossed the space between them in two strides, his hands cupping her face as he searched her eyes. "You're hurt?"
She shook her head. "No."
But her voice trembled, and she didn't know if it was from fear or something else entirely.
Lucien's voice dropped. "You called fire without losing control."
"I think I remembered who I am," she said quietly.
His fingers slid from her cheeks to the back of her neck. "Then we're running out of time."
Celeste blinked. "Why?"
"Because they'll realize soon that the contract didn't bind you," he said. "It recognized you."
A chill danced down her spine. "What does that mean?"
Lucien didn't answer.
He stepped back, his gaze scanning the shattered remains of the chapel. "We need to move before more come. This was just a test."
"And the real threat?"
"Watches from the shadows," he said. "But it's getting closer."
Celeste turned toward the altar, her soulbound mark still glowing.
"Where do we go?"
Lucien looked at her with something unreadable in his eyes.
"To the place where your bloodline began," he said. "And where mine ends."